Blades in the Dark vs Scum and Villainy: which TTRPG fits your group?

Blades in the Dark and Scum and Villainy side by side: dice, rules weight, prep, playstyle and what each game is about. Still split? Put both to a group vote.

Blades in the Dark

Scum and Villainy

	Blades in the Dark	Scum and Villainy
Publisher	Evil Hat Productions	Evil Hat Productions
Dice	d6 pool	Forged in the Dark (d6 pools)
Players	3–5	3–5
Complexity
Prep	~10 min	~15 min
Foundry VTT	Community	Community
Free version	No	No
Playstyle	Narrative Social Combat	Narrative Social Combat
Setting	Urban Fantasy	Space

Still split? Let the group decide

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What Blades in the Dark is

FitD heist & crime RPG

An RPG about a criminal gang in a dark industrial city. A revolutionary system: no planning operations in advance — instead, flashbacks during the job. 'Something goes wrong? I ALREADY bribed the guard yesterday.' Between jobs — a downtime phase: healing, training, upgrading your lair.

Pick it if

you want heists without hours of planning, thanks to flashbacks
your group likes growing a criminal crew, its turf and its enemies
players enjoy dark industrial gothic with ghosts and faction politics

Skip it if

your players love meticulously planning every detail before acting
you want a military campaign with a fixed end; Band of Blades fits better
your table wants tactical maps and precise combat numbers

Key mechanics

Flashbacks
Crew as character
Position and Effect
Downtime

Full page →

What Scum and Villainy is

Space scoundrels on the Forged in the Dark engine

Scum and Villainy is a space opera on the Forged in the Dark engine (the same one behind Blades in the Dark). You're the crew of a battered starship on the edge of the Procyon Sector: smugglers, bounty hunters, and rebels taking on risky jobs. The vibe is Firefly and Star Wars: too much debt, too little fuel, and work that's far too dangerous.